TapeTrack supports matching against a list of patterns stored in an external file using the special filter prefix:

*LIST:filename

• filename the name of the file containing the search terms.

This allows a filter field to be compared against multiple patterns, where each pattern is stored as a separate line in the file.

This is useful when you have a large set of patterns to maintain, want reusable filters shared between operators or scripts or you want to avoid typing long OR-style filters manually.

When a filter begins with:

 *LIST: 

TapeTrack will:

• open the specified file
• read the file line-by-line
• treat each line as an individual filter pattern
• stop as soon as a match is found

Each line in the list file is processed as a normal TapeTrack pattern match (wildcards are supported).

Example set of Description values for Volumes in TapeMaster:

Production database weekly backup
Prod DB full backup
Prod data backup set
Production export dump
Development database backup
Weekly archive - finance system

Create a plain text file called prod_filters.txt

With the following contents (one pattern per line):

*prod* 
*PRD* 
*production* 

To filter the Description field using the list file:

 *LIST:prod_filters.txt 

This will match any Description containing:

prod
PRD
production

Using the filter:

 *LIST:prod_filters.txt 

The following descriptions would typically match:

Production database weekly backup
Prod DB full backup
Production export dump
PRD database BKP
Prod data backup set

The following descriptions would typically not match:

Development database backup
Weekly archive - finance system

Each line in the list file supports standard TapeTrack wildcard matching.

Example list file contents:

*backup* 
*archive* 
*dump* 

This allows a single LIST filter to match multiple categories of text.

LIST files are read sequentially until a match is found.

Blank lines should be avoided.

Each line should contain a valid TapeTrack filter pattern.

LIST filters can be used in TapeMaster filters and TapeTrack CLI filters (where supported).

If a tool supports multiple filter fields, LIST filters can be used to simplify selection logic.

For example, a LIST file could contain all patterns related to production backups:

*prod* 
*production* 
*weekly backup* 
*full backup* 

Then the TapeMaster Description filter can be applied as:

 *LIST:prod_filters.txt 

This provides a centralized way to manage filtering rules.

LIST filtering provides a simple way to match a field against multiple patterns stored in an external file.

It is ideal for environments where filtering rules must be maintained and reused across operators, jobs, or automation scripts.

LIST pattern matching
FUZZY Matching